Ban Free Speech In An HOA?

The link below is from a homeowner in Minnesota who is outraged that her HOA has issued new rules against certain types of speech, like talking to your neighbor about the HOA board.

Can they really do that?

Well, yes they can. A private non-profit corporation can do just about anything it wants whether it seems constitutional or not.

A for-profit corporation can do the same. The Denver TV station where I worked for more than three decades had rules about private discussions between or among employees. Religion and politics were forbidden. Political correctness was mandated at all times.

But your home is your castle, isn’t it? Well, not in the modern Homeowners Association Movement. If your HOA board is as fascist as many of them are, even certain kinds of private conversation in your home are banned. And you can be fined. And liened. And your home confiscated and sold at auction, all because of a private dinnertime conversation you had with friends.

Until we can get the courts to recognize that Homeowners Associations are governments…we are doomed to hear an endless list of horrors.

About

Ward Lucas is a longtime investigative journalist and television news anchor. He has won more than 70 national and regional awards for Excellence in Journalism, Creative Writing and community involvement. His new book, "Neighbors At War: the Creepy Case Against Your Homeowners Association," is now available for purchase. In it, he discusses the American homeowners association movement, from its racist origins, to its transformation into a lucrative money machine for the nation's legal industry. From scams to outright violence to foreclosures and neighborhood collapses across the country, the reader will find this book enormously compelling and a necessary read for every homeowner. Knowledge is self-defense. No homeowner contemplating life in an HOA should neglect reading this book. No HOA board officer should overlook this examination of the pitfalls in HOA management. And no lawyer representing either side in an HOA dispute should gloss over what homeowners are saying or believing about the lawsuit industry.